AIMS passes 50th member milestone

AIMS passes 50th member milestone

Alliance surpasses 50 member companies with new additions, Axon, EMC² and Ross Video

AIMS has announced that it has achieved the milestone of signing up over 50 member companies in only nine months. With the simultaneous induction of Axon, EMC² and Ross Video at the end of August, the alliance expanded the number of its member companies to 52.

Recent months has seen the continuing steady growth of alliance membership, with 13 new member companies joining in July and August alone. 

Commenting on the milestone of surpassing 50 member companies, AIMS Chairman Michael Cronk said, “Since the founding of AIMS last December, we have experienced a rapid rate of growth in our membership. This reflects a wide and increasing awareness that a common, open standards based approach to IP Interoperability is the best way forward.”

Axon designs and markets high quality broadcast equipment for the conversion, processing, routing and compliance recording of audio and video signals. From its base in the Netherlands the company has become a global leader in broadcast network infrastructure products and solutions, with regional offices in Brazil, China, Germany, Russia, UAE, Singapore, UK and USA, and an extensive network of specialist systems integrators that work alongside many of the world’s leading broadcasters.

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Ross Video designs and manufactures a wide range of innovative video production systems for use in broadcast and other live event production applications. The Canadian company’s products are used daily in over 100 countries by broadcast television networks, cable TV networks, sports stadiums, live production companies, government agencies and houses of worship.

The U.S. multinational corporation EMC² is a market-leader in data storage systems, and a global leader in enabling businesses and service providers to transform their operations; delivering information technology as a service (ITaaS), cloud computing, and management and storage of big data.

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Commenting for AIMS, Chairman Michael Cronk stated, “There is considerable significance in a global IT corporation like EMC² aligning itself with the open standards approach to the transition to IP workflows in television and video production. Storage plays an important role in production and playout workflows that are undergoing the transition to all-IP file-based workflows. Their involvement in AIMS further illustrates the far reaching effect that IP is having on the media landscape.”

AIMS’ efforts are focused on promoting the adoption, standardization, development and refinement of open protocols for media over IP, with an initial emphasis on VSF TR-03 and TR-04, SMPTE 2022-6 and AES67. Broadcasters and other media companies are seeking to leverage IP to increase the flexibility of their networks, help streamline workflows and improve agility to better compete in a rapidly evolving ecosystem. Open standards are the key to protecting current investments and ensuring long-term interoperability.

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Open standards work for the IP transition is already underway by the 77-member Video Services Forum (VSF), with the support of organizations such as SMPTE and the EBU. AIMS endorses the work of the VSF and will continue to lend support in the development of a standard approach to IP; more than 30 broadcast equipment suppliers and broadcasters were involved in the development of VSF TR-03 and companies are actively testing and validating it today.

AIMS provides specific guidance in its bylaws to its members and to the media industry via the AIMS Roadmap. The organization endorses an IP transition plan that includes support for SMPTE 2022-6, AES67, VSF recommendations TR-03 and TR-04, and AMWA NMOS IS-04.

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A number of solutions are already on the market to help media companies begin the transition by introducing IP components to an SDI workflow. The transition represents a significant investment and will not happen overnight. An open standards approach allows media companies to implement the technology over time and transition at the pace that makes sense for their businesses.

Membership in AIMS is available to all individuals and companies that support open standards and share a commitment to the group’s founding principles.

About the Alliance of IP Media Solutions

The Alliance of IP Media Solutions (AIMS) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the education, awareness and promotion of industry standards for the transmission of video, audio and ancillary information over an IP infrastructure, as well as products based on those standards. The group represents the interests of both broadcast and media companies and technology suppliers that share a commitment to facilitating the industry’s transition from SDI to IP through industry standards and interoperable solutions that enable the rapid evolution to open, agile and versatile production environments.

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